Luftwaffe Varies As Servant And Master Of Other Services

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1942, Page 2

Luftwaffe Varies As Servant And Master Of

Other Services

FROM an administrative point of view the Luftwaffe is an independent branch of the services, but strategically and tactically it is dependent on the decisions of a higher authority, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (O.K.W.) under General-Field-Marshal Keitel, explains a writer in the English aeronautical publication Aeroplane. Although Goering is technically head of the German air force and holds a rank higher than that of Keitel. the chief of the OKW has greater powers. He plans the operations of the German armed forces and allots to the commanders-in-chief of the army, navy and Luftwaffe the parts their units will have to play in them. Keitel, and not the three service chiefs, issues the daily communiques. All Services Represented. The chief of the OKW has his own general staff, on which all three services are represented. The Luftwaffe's permanent representative is Colonel General K. Bodenschatz, Goering's A.D.C. in the last war. Through these liaison officers close collaboration between the OKW and each of three branches has been established, and this collaboration is further strengthened by inter-service liaison officers. The Luftwaffe has one liaison officer each with the command-ers-in-chief of the army and navy, Generals of Aviators R. Bogatsch and H. Ritter. These officers have to maintain liaison between the eommanders-in-chief, direct the operations of those Luftwaffe formations which are immediately under the command of the other two services. and supervise the work of the Luftwaffe officers and their staffs attached to the groups of armies, to the armies, army corps, divisions. and brigades. Such a complicated scheme for the collaboration of the three services may be considered cumbersome. and the Germans themselves admit it. Yet, so far, they have had no cause to try another. The collaboration of the army and the Luftwaffe during the Battle of France was judged to be as good as could have been expected. Since the beginning of the Russian campaign the collaboration has been further improved by putting a reconnaissance squadron, a wing of dive bombers, and a battalion of anti-air-craft artillery under the operational command of each panzer division; the aeroplane types are the Hs 126. the Fw 189, the Ju 87B or the Ju 88A6, and, occasionally, the Hs 123 biplane dive bomber, up to about 50 in nuinber.

Should these aeroplanes require fighter protection, the chief Luftwaffe liaison officer with the group of armies puts a squadron or a wing at the disposal of the Luftwaffe liaison officer with the individual panzer division, who employs them according to the orders of the divisional commander. During the first month of the fighting in Russia German papers published maps of the front which showed the distribution of the armed forces. According to this map the three air fleets were attached to the three groups of armies whose commanders were in charge of the operations. The officer-in-charge of an air fleet takes part in the daily meetings of the commander-in-chief of the group of armies and of the officers commanding the armies under him, during which the proposed operations of the following day are outlined and discussed.

Anti-aircraft artillery units co-operate with the other services on almost the same lines. Until the beginning of 1941 mobile anti-aircraft units were part of the Luftwaffe, whereas batteries working from fixed sites— the Festungsflaks— were under the army. Since then the army has formed its own anti-aircraft artillery units. Should the commander of an army unit require additional antiaircraft protection. Luftwaffe formations are put under his command and not

under that of the highest air force officer in that area. Collaboration between the Luftwaffe and the navy is organised on similar lines. Kustenseeflugkommando fulfils the functions of both the Coastal Command and the Fleet Air Arm. It provides the units for long-distance patrols over the sea, for mine-laying or torpedo attacks. and ship-borne aeroplanes for German warships. Should the aircraftcarrier Count Zeppeliri, which is now in the former Polish port of Gdynia, ever be completed during this war, the flying personnel will doubtless be taken from the Kustenseeflugkommando. This unit does not consist exclusively of members of the Luftwaffe. It also includes men from the navy. Observers, and pilots, too. are often chosen from naval personnel. Flying units working with the navy are under the command of the navy. If, for instance, the commander of the U-boats, Admiral K. Doenitz, requires air support for an attack on a convoy or for reconnaissance over the Atlantic, the Luftwaffe formations sent are under his operational command. From this the conclusion might be drawn that Luftwaffe units always fight under the command of other services. That is far from the truth. There have been occasions in this war when operations ordered by the OKW have been directed by officers of the Luftwaffe. This does not inelude the Battle of Britain, which was a Luftwaffe undertaking from beginning to end and was directed by Luftwaffe chiefs. Where Luftwaffe Ruled. But the conquest of Crete and the withdrawal of the Scharnhorst. Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen from Brest to North Sea ports were operations in which Luftwaffe officers commanded military and naval forces as well as air units. The conquest of Crete wqs directed by Generaloberst A. Lohr, of the 4th Air Fleet, who had command not only of army units. but also of German and Italiim naval formations. The move of the three German warships was directed by Marshal Sperrle, and Vice- Admiral Ciliax, the commander of the naval vessels, acted as a junior officer under him. This survey shows that the Luftwaffe is not as independent as is sometimes claimed by speakers and writers in England. What must always be remembered in assessing the status of the German air force is that at one moment it may be the servant and the next the master of the other two services. German military strategists do not view war from three distinct angles. but from one. and the primary role is given to the service that must play the most important part.